A couple of my friends posted this picture overnight.
Yesterday was the final trading day for the last remaining pit on the 1997 Bondroom floor.
February of 1997 we traded on that floor for the first time. I was thirty years old, hungover and tired from a weekend in New Orleans.
We moved from the original grain floor built in 1929 located in the front of The Chicago Board of Trade into this obsolete monstrosity.
The last decade of the 20th century saw the last hit at old Comiskey. The last power play goal at the Chicago Stadium and the last Limit Up under the statue of Ceres.
I stood on this floor when Islamic Terrorists attacked America on a Tuesday in September of 2001. This was the floor where the CBOT merged with the merc.
I met the mother of my children on this trading floor and a chapter of my career abruptly ended in that room because of ChinaFlu.
I don’t miss this floor anymore. I miss the people that lived on it with me. I miss being younger and stronger. Dumber and cockier… I miss making funny signals with my hands and wearing a colorful trading jacket.
Farewell to another Chicago icon… it was a beautiful run.
